Israeli Army Engineers Destroy Hamas Tunnel Under Evacuated Hospital in Gaza
Israeli army engineers successfully destroyed a Hamas tunnel located under an evacuated hospital in northern Gaza. The engineers filled the tunnel with exploding gel and detonated it, causing a blast that engulfed the building and sent smoke spewing out of multiple points along a nearby road. Surveillance footage captured the incident.
An army officer, speaking at a briefing at Zeelim Ground Forces Base in southern Israel, explained that the gel spread out and destroyed whatever was waiting for them in the tunnel. Clearing these tunnels is a crucial aspect of Israel’s military campaign against Hamas in response to the group’s deadly attack on southern Israel on October 7.
The Israeli army uses various methods to map out the extensive network of bunkers, access shafts, and tunnels that run for hundreds of kilometers under Gaza. In addition to munitions, they employ tracker robots and other remotely operated technology. The officer, whose identity remained anonymous due to briefing rules, stated that underground combat is a work in progress and that other methods are being developed to address the issue.
In the city of Beit Hanoun, where the Israeli forces were operating, some gunmen had attacked them from tunnel shafts and were subsequently killed. The officer explained that Israel’s policy is not to send personnel into these narrow, dark, under-ventilated, and collapsible passages where Palestinian fighters have an advantage. They do not want to confront the fighters directly due to the risk of improvised explosive devices left behind by Hamas.
Hamas is known to have tunnels for attack, smuggling, and storage purposes. Security sources state that dozens of shafts can lead to each tunnel, with depths ranging from 20 to 80 meters. Destroying a shaft is relatively easy and quick, according to the officer, but tackling the tunnels themselves is more challenging. For every few hundred meters of tunnel, several tons of exploding gel are required.
The officer admitted that after-action analysis is difficult since the tunnels are interconnected. While the Israeli military claimed to have destroyed 130 shafts, no figures were provided for demolished tunnels. Hamas has denied using hospitals as cover for such tunnels and dismissed Israeli assertions of a command center under Gaza’s largest hospital, Al Shifa.
Efforts are being made to avoid endangering hostages who may be held in the tunnels. The officer emphasized that if there are indications of a target being related to hostages, they refrain from attacking it unless they receive clearance. Most of the captured Palestinian gunmen have limited knowledge of the entire tunnel network, but they are familiar with their own village’s tunnels.
The officer estimated that it could take months to destroy Gaza’s entire underground network, comparing it to a more complex task than dealing with the New York City subway.